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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

So, I guess, the Devils and the Rangers officially don’t like each other.

Not there was any doubt about that previously, but the Hudson River Rivalry reached a nice rolling boil tonight in the third period of the Devils 4-1 victory in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals at Prudential Center.

The Devils grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from defenseman Bryce Salvador and Travis Zajac. After Zach Parise jammed home an Ilya Kovalchuk rebound for a power-play goal to make it 3-0 2:41 into the third, an already chippy game escalated to another level with an incident at 6:18.

That was started by former Devil Mike Rupp, who scored New Jersey’s Cup-winning goal in 2003, delivering a high hit on defenseman Peter Harrold behind the net, then cutting through the crease to give goaltender Martin Brodeur a punch to the chest and jaw.

“It probably shouldn’t have happened,” Tortorella said. “I thought it was just a legal hit (on Harrold). None of that would have happened if we just kept on playing the game. I don’t know why there was a penalty called. I’m not questioning the referee. I just thought it was a legal hit and nothing would have happened.”

Brodeur said he was more surprised by the punch than that it came from his former teammate.

“I didn’t expect anything to happen,” he said. “Rupp or no Rupp, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t expect it. I never got punched like that in my career. It was just things that happen in a playoff series and I’m just happy that I didn’t get hurt on it.”

Brodeur said the punch did hurt a little, though, after joking, “I’m a tough guy.”

“It kind of stung me a little bit,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do, really. It hurt a little bit my jaw. I think he hit me in the chest and I think his fist went up to my mask. It kind of surprised me more than anything. Now I know I can take a punch.”

Devils right wing Steve Bernier responded by going after Rupp, but Rupp shoved him to the ice before being escorted off.

“I ended up on the ground,” Bernier said. “We need to stay disciplined, but I think we’ve got to stay as a team and defend our goaltender. We didn’t do anything stupid there. We just went between them and Marty to make sure that nothing’s going to happen.”

As things were heating up on the ice, DeBoer and Tortorella gravitated toward the end of their respective benches to yell at each other.

Neither head coach commented on that incident.

“This isn't about John and I,” DeBoer said. “This is about the guys on the ice. So I don't have anything to say about that.”

“I’m not going to answer any questions on that, thank you,” Tortorella said.

Devils left wing Ryan Carter said he couldn’t hear what the coaches were saying.

“I was being escorted to the penalty box for being a punching bag,” Carter said in describing what he thought was a lopsided exchange with Stu Bickel. Bickel and Carter both receive two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.

“The ref was right between us too,” said Carter, as he demonstrated how his head snapped three times from Bickel’s punches. “I thought about asking what I could do to not get 10, but it’s not worth it at that time.”

Bickel had gotten Carter with an unpenalized crosscheck to the left side of his neck/head at the Rangers’ blue line earlier in the period.

“We hope we frustrated them,” defenseman Bryce Salvador said. “Time will tell, but it was the same strategy with Philly. Not to get involved in those plays and try to play whistle to whistle and, hopefully, we can frustrate them and have them take penalties. Rupper on Marty, it will be interested to see what the league thinks about that.

“You can’t just turn around and sucker punch a goalie. Whether the league has any comment or not, at this time of the season, when you see the type of plays and the penalties they took in the third we hope that we can continue to frustrate them playing that way.”

Things might heat up further in Game 5 on Wednesday.

“That’s all emotions,” said Ilya Kovalchuk, who exchanged questionable shots to the groin with Ryan Callahan in the second period. “I don’t think Rupp should do that. You’ve got to respect the goalie first. It’s Marty. (Rupp) played on this team, too, so I don’t know what’s going on in his mind, but I’m pretty sure he will apologize.”

Brodeur might have to wait a while for that apology.

It’s now a best of three series with a Stanley Cup Finals berth at stake.

“I think the intensity is only going to rise from here,” said Parise, who had two goals and an assist tonight. “There’s a lot at stake and we’re up for the challenge, I think. It’s going to be tough going into that building. It’s always hard, but I think we’re ready for it and we’ll be all right.”

“I think the best hockey is yet to come,” Brodeur said. “It’s going to get down to the wire. It’s been a great series so far. It’s been tight and I don’t think anything different the next three games. We’re looking forward to going to Madison Square Garden and try to steal a game in there. Right now, it’s the best out of three and they have two games on their home ice. So, it’s going to be a tough task for us. We’re put ourselves in that situation and we’re looking forward to that challenge on Wednesday.”

***Harrold said Rupp might have caught him in the head with his hit behind the net, but didn’t think it was intentional.

“Maybe a little bit, but that happens a lot when you’re shorter than bigger guys like that,” Harrold said. “He certainly wasn’t trying to do that. I think it was just a function of him being taller than me.”

***Kovalchuk said he was not concerned about any possible supplemental discipline from the NHL for his spear on Callahan. Several Devils said they thought the league should look at Rupp’s punch on Brodeur.

Tortorella wasn’t concerned about possible supplemental discipline for Rupp, who left the arena without speaking to reporters.

One thing was clear: there will probably be more of this on Wednesday.

"It’s going to happen,” Callahan said. “It’s a series. There’s going to be situations out there where we don’t like each other, where we’re getting in each other faces. It’s playoff hockey, that’s how it goes."

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.